Nigerians Abroad call for national dialogue

Posted by admin Africa & World Politics, Headlines Sunday, January 26th, 2020

As Nigerians reflect on 50 years after the civil war, Nigerians living in the United Kingdom, Europe and America (UK) have called on the Federal Government to accede to the calls for a National Dialogue by Arewa Consultative Forum, (ACF) and some Northern leaders.
Nigeria is currently plagued with violent extremism, ethnic suspicion, an affliction that has plagued the former British colony since independence in 1960 and led to a 30-month devastating war which ended in 1970.
As the country marks half a century memorial of the civil war, the scars appear to have continued to be oiled by corruption and poor leadership which have combined to stifle unity and mutual trust.
The Nigeria professionals under the aegis of Fatherland said it was time for constructive national dialogue to deal with the growing ethnic suspicion and other socio-political problems afflicting in the country. Fatherland is a network of Nigerian professionals largely living abroad.
The group said it welcomed the call by a key Northern leader, Dr Usman Bugaje, a leading intellectual in the North who late last year called for a National Dialogue on the future of the country.
“In our view it is always good to talk. We share Dr Bugaje’s view on the urgent need for us to find a way forward out of the present morass for the benefit of all of our peoples and so we are pleased to accept his call.
“However, there are some errors and misconceptions in the lecture that he delivered which need to be corrected.
“When making the call he identified three things which he said “becloud our vision” and which, he says, we must unshackle ourselves from “before we can arrive at a national consensus,” the statement signed by the Group Chairman Mr Dele Ogun, a lawyer who lives in the UK noted.

-Tidewp_posts